Vehicle Tracking System using Nanotechnology Satellites and Tags

This paper describes a joint project to design, develop, and deploy a satellite based tracking system incorporating micro-nanotechnology components. The system consists of a constellation of 'nanosats', a satellite command station and data collection sites, and a large number of low-cost electronic 'tags'. Both government and commercial applications are envisioned for the satellite based tracking system. The projected low price for the tracking service is made possible by the lightweight nanosats and inexpensive electronic tags which use high production volume single chip transceivers and microprocessor devices. The nanosat consists of a five inch aluminum cube with body mounted solar panels (GaAs solar cells) on all six faces. A UHF turnstile antenna and a simple, spring release mechanism complete the external configuration of the spacecraft

A Framework for Choosing Defense Forces

Today the need for quality and clarity in our force planning decisions is greater than ever. The steady growth of Soviet military capability relative to that of the United States reduces our margin for error. Higher quality and more timely decisions must be made if we hope to achieve the efficiency necessary to compete with the Soviets, who devote over 50 percent more resources to defense than does the United States.